Councils' £1bn on commercial property amid housing crisis

Councils in England and Wales are set to gamble £1 billion on commercial property ventures. That's enough to build over 8,000 new council homes.

The figures come from estate agent Savills, which found councils had spent £758 million this way in the first two-thirds of 2017.

Perhaps councillors plan to move the 1.2 million households on council waiting lists into the hotels they're buying? Maybe office and shopping centre workers can just kip over after closing time now their local authorities own them?

Never mind encouraging property speculators - councils have become them. Send these town halls eviction notices, down to the last Tory and Blairite. Build council homes now.